Tuesday, August 28, 2018

One of the traditions that I have while attending FanimeCon is to take the crew out that works alongside me to dinner as the convention winds down. But the last time we did that was four years ago before the rise of the CWF and where that dinner would take place was taken over by the prime-time slot of the growing show. So instead I decided to find the next best option where no one was busy - Saturday morning.

Ray, Nate, and I made the early morning walk over to Peggy Sue's, a 50s-styled diner that I haven't been to since at least the first time I ever went to FanimeCon. I was hoping that Tally would tag along but she had to take all morning to prepare to get into Vincent from Final Fantasy VII.

We were able to spectate a 5k Color Run

Morning breakfast at Peggy Sue's

With some rare morning downtime, I had an opportunity to interact with some old as well as new friends who were attending the convention.

A rare photo of a gathering of extinct creatures

Continuing the coverage theme of gaming, my first major event of the day was the Overwatch Gathering. The gathering was especially more lucrative with the SF Shock esports team attending the convention and nomy joining the cosplayers during the gathering.

Before the sea of Overwatch it was the sea of My Hero Academia

Group shot

nomy posing with the cosplayers

A push-up contest

It's "a-Mei-zing!"

By the time the gathering had ended, Tom had just arrived and wanted to meet up while I had a lunch break before the Persona Gathering, so we went back to Earl of Sandwich. Once we got back via Bird Scooter, I had an opportunity to pick up a Jeanne d' Arc key chain from an artist that I found out through a Fate/Grand Order Facebook group I was in.

>mfw

A shot of Plaza de César Chávez and part of the Fairmont Hotel

Snorlax during Snorlax things

With my lunch break over, I headed over to the Persona Gathering to continue the afternoon.

Group shot

Ultra rare Persona 2 cosplayers

Persona 5 group shot

"The second best shot from the Persona Gathering" -Me

Because we always have to end the gathering with a dab group shot

With FanimeCon's spinoff convention, Clockwork Academy, actually spun off to a different date, the convention had to use the space within the DoubleTree Hotel in some way. Curious, I jumped onto the shuttle to head over to the other part of the convention to find out exactly what it was like. The best part of all was that I had used a Bird Scooter to jet between the Marriott and the Hilton where the shuttles were stopping. It took me about 5 minutes total since I went the back way and arrived right as one of the shuttles pulled up.

A few from inside the shuttle

People disembarking the shuttle while others waiting to get on

Map of the DoubleTree

Quidditch

A tabletop session

During my quick visit to one of the tabletop rooms, I ran into someone from my FanimeCon past - the Tamaki (and more, since he actually was switching roles throughout) who was part of the skit that I participated in back in 2008.

My overall visit to the DoubleTree was short, partly because I was hungry but also because beyond the JoJo Escape Room that was highly advertised at the convention there wasn't enough to do there based on my tastes. Still, I will give the convention props for using the space to the best of their ability and expand the convention to involve all fandoms and tastes.

Across the street was one of the few places that I could get pho without getting into my car and driving which was inside a casino called Casino Matrix. I did explore the casino that was in competition with San Jose staple Bay 101 (which had just opened its new but smaller location almost across the street from here, away from its old but bigger location from across the freeway) before eating said pho and drinking tea.

Pho and Thai Tea

By this point my foot started to hurt based on all the walking that I was doing over the weekend, something that is common in a four day convention marathon. So I rested a bit, drinking Powerade and watching Game 6 of the Houston/Golden State series before taking Lyft back to the convention center instead of walking back to the hotel to take the shuttle back and resting up a bit more before heading out into the nightlife and covering the Midnight Persona Gathering.

The Saturday night crowd

Rare photo of an extinct creature dancing

Once midnight rolls around, we are treated to another tradition across those who know the Persona franchise and in turn run these gatherings: a gathering at midnight. On the surface it may seem like its the same cosplay from earlier in the afternoon but there's that allure of gathering during the "Dark Hour" that makes it unique.

The one thing that usually follows a midnight gathering is a round of the King's Game, a game featured in Persona 4. But with the arrival of Persona 5, everything prior to the fifth installment is a fleeting memory.